Posted: September 13th, 2017

Participant Observation Project

Participant Observation Project

Order Description

Each student will engage in a small ethnographic research project. The project will be discussed in detail in class but some suggestions for the project are interviewing someone from another culture, conducting interviews and observations of an institution or group, or direct observations of a public setting. The ethnographic project will demonstrate the students knowledge of ethnographic fieldwork gathered through lectures and the texts. The independent field project designed by the student and approved by the professor will allow the student to experience some of the practical aspects of doing anthropological research in a restricted setting. Students must submit a half page written proposal for the fieldwork and a 5-7 page paper based on their fieldwork. Written fieldnotes should be maintained for all observations and interviews. Fieldnotes will be used as the basis for the final paper.

COURSE DESCRIPTION: This course is an introduction to cultural anthropology stressing the contribution of anthropology’s methods and theories to the social sciences. Students will become familiar with the basic concepts of cultural anthropology as well as gaining some familiarity with the theories developed by cultural anthropologists over the course of the 20th century. We will look at the method of participant observation and the evolution of the ethnography as a genre of writing. Recent trends in thinking about human cultures and societies will be explored as students seek to apply anthropological knowledge to the complex problems of the world today.

Week 1 Culture
Readings: Miller Ch. 1.

Week 2 Fieldwork and Ethnography
Readings: Miller Ch. 2-3; Podolefsky, Brown & Lacy Ch. 2-3.

Week 3 Economics
Readings: Miller Ch. 4-5; Podolefsky, Brown & Lacy Ch. 12-14, 24-26.

FIELDWORK PROPOSALS DUE

Week 4 Language and Semiotics
Readings: Miller Ch. 11, 13; Podolefsky, Brown & Lacy Ch. 1, 6.

Week 5&6 Marriage, Kinship, Gender
Readings: Miller Ch. 6-8; Podolefsky, Brown & Lacy Ch. 4-5, 7.

MIDTERM EXAM (Posted Week 5)
Week 7 Social Organization
Readings: Miller Ch. 9; Podolefsky, Brown & Lacy Ch.34, 35.

Week 8 Politics
Readings: Miller Ch. 10; Podolefsky, Brown & Lacy Ch. 27-33.

Week 9 Religion
Readings: Miller 12; Podolefsky, Brown & Lacy Ch. 8-11.